UAE residents share their experiences on losing and finding their prized possessions

Pete Mahon. Ravindranath K / The National

All is not necessarily lost when ­treasured items go missing in the UAE. Fortunately, there are more than enough honest people who will go the extra mile to return them, as Maria Joan Cabel knows only too well.

“I don’t know if I’m just always lucky, but from very expensive to very odd items, I keep losing them – and fortunately having them returned to me,” says the Filipino stay-at-home mum, who lives in Dubai.

“I don’t know how many times I have left my mobile in a restaurant or toilet. One time, I lost it twice in a week. When my husband calls and another guy answers, he doesn’t get surprised anymore. He just asks, ‘Where can we meet you to get my wife’s phone?’”

Maria Joan Cabel. Mona Al Marzooqi / The National

How the police can help?

In Abu Dhabi, people who lose or find items are advised to visit the nearest police directorate. Unclaimed items are eventually sent to charity, or to related departments such as immigration.

In Dubai, handing over lost property within 48 hours is a legal requirement – failure to do so invites criminal liability.

The finder is entitled to a reward equivalent to 10 per cent of the value of the item, up to Dh50,000. If the property is not claimed by the owner within a year, the finder can claim it for themselves.

Police in Dubai were happy to oblige when Cabel recently reported the loss of her Quinny stroller and Entertainer voucher book, after the items ­disappeared from a mall ­parking lot.

“The police saw the guy taking it on the mall security CCTV and called him to tell him to return it the next day,” she says. “Otherwise he’d be jailed for taking something that wasn’t his.”

Taxi tales

Almost 9,000 mobile phones were left in Abu Dhabi taxis last year. Commuters also left behind 3,353 wallets, 2,498 handbags, as well as ATM cards, ­sunglasses, keys and medicines. Fortunately, 57 per cent of lost items were ­returned to their rightful owners.

These figures are collated by the Integrated Transport Centre, which regulates taxi operations in Abu Dhabi.

“We even found 23 umbrellas,” says Khowla Al Daheri, the organisation’s call-centre head.

Sometimes, drivers go above and beyond the call of duty to ­return the items.

Two weeks ago, Irish Abu Dhabi resident Pete Mahon lost his new Dh700 wireless earphones in an Abu Dhabi taxi.

“I called the taxi company and registered the loss that evening,” he says. “The next morning I got a call from the driver – ‘Sir, I have your package. Can I meet you ­today?’”

When he arrived, the Nepalese driver explained to Mahon that a little girl who was in the taxi after him had taken the earphones home. Her parents later called the taxi company.

“The driver picked up the earphones from the family’s home on the Corniche, and drove all the way to Mazyad Mall, which is a Dh120 journey, to meet me,” says Mahon.

The taxi company told Mahon he should pay whatever was on the driver’s meter – but the driver had already cleared the meter when he arrived.

“We had an argument when I tried to tip him,” says Mahon.

“I knew he’d lost money by returning my earphones, because it’d come out of his wages as a lost fare.

“I’ve never known that level of honesty and generosity in my life, it was astonishing.”

In the end, Mahon pushed Dh100 through the driver’s ­window, ­giving him no choice but to accept.

When pets go walkabout

If a dog or cat goes astray in the capital, the first place to check is Abu Dhabi Animal Shelter.

Tadweer, the Centre of waste Management, regularly rounds up cats and dogs found on the streets and takes them to the shelter, near the city’s airport.

“If they have a microchip, we contact the owners,” says the shelter’s director, Dr Margit Muller.

“If we can’t locate the owners and nobody claims the animal, it gets put up for ­adoption.”

Another place to check for lost pets, as well as other missing items, is the lost and found ­section of classifieds website Dubizzle.

Dr Margit Muller. Silvia Razgova / The National

On January 8, staff at Abu Dhabi’s Corniche Beach posted a message there after finding a small, green parrot in the sea.

“If you are the owner, please call me or proceed to Gate 6 Corniche Beach and bring photos of your parrot,” the post read.

The owner was never found, however, and two days later the parrot ­escaped again.

Other lost items recently posted on Dubizzle include an Uzbekistani passport, and a bag of educational, marriage and birth certificates.

Losing it at the airport

Flying can be exhausting and disorientating, so it is no surprise things go amiss at airports.

As well as contacting the airline and airport directly, try reporting the lost item on www.airportlostandfound.com, which connects those who lose property when flying with those who find it.

Recent postings include a book on past-life regression (which was lost on an Etihad flight on January 25), and a toy locomotive train that went missing at Abu Dhabi Airport on January 13.